PRESIDENT OBAMA: Set to Deliver Eulogy of Charleston Pastor

Let’s just hope he focuses on the victims and doesn’t use this as a launch pad for gun control again.

President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Charleston Friday to attend funeral services for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, a White House official said.

Obama will deliver the eulogy for the fallen Democrat, who also served as a state Senator, the official confirmed to The Post and Courier.

Pinckney was one of nine people fatally shot Wednesday night during a bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Dylann Roof is charged with their murders and is being held at the Charleston County jail. Charleston police have classified the attack as a hate crime. Roof is white and the victims he allegedly killed were black.

Last week, Obama spoke about the killings, noting that he knew Pinckney and other Emanuel AME members personally. And he said the “senseless” murders were particularly heartbreaking because they occurred at a church where people seek solace.

“The fact that this took place in a black church obviously also raises questions about a dark part of our history,” he said. “This is not the first time that black churches have been attacked. And we know that hatred across races and faiths pose a particular threat to our democracy and our ideals.”

Pinckney’s funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at TD Arena at the College of Charleston. Interment will follow at St. James AME Church of Marion.